[Philip doesn't believe it's a bad thing for her to have a mind of her own if she does, but it's that if that causes the problem. People think they have minds of their own right up until the point in which it's convenient to not. It's easier to push that responsibility into the hands of someone else instead of accepting it as their own. It's easier to blame someone else for when things go wrong or when things get ugly.]
[Not that he doesn't understand the impulse. But he's been on the receiving end of the blame, of the responsibility enough times that he resents it.]
[He doesn't bother with explaining any of this to Abigail, however. If she takes it another way, if it hurts her feelings, it's no skin off his back.]
no subject
[This is said derisively, of course.]
[Philip doesn't believe it's a bad thing for her to have a mind of her own if she does, but it's that if that causes the problem. People think they have minds of their own right up until the point in which it's convenient to not. It's easier to push that responsibility into the hands of someone else instead of accepting it as their own. It's easier to blame someone else for when things go wrong or when things get ugly.]
[Not that he doesn't understand the impulse. But he's been on the receiving end of the blame, of the responsibility enough times that he resents it.]
[He doesn't bother with explaining any of this to Abigail, however. If she takes it another way, if it hurts her feelings, it's no skin off his back.]